Alibaba To Reorganize E-Commerce Into Separate Domestic, International Units — Names New CFO

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA announced the appointment of Toby Xu as the company’s chief financial officer on Sunday.

What Happened: Xu, the company’s current deputy CFO, will take over from the current CFO Maggie Wu on April 1, Alibabaq said. Wu will continue as a partner in the Alibaba Partnership and serve as an executive director on the company’s board, as per a statement.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said the announcement of the CFO transition was the “culmination of extensive preparation over many years and a part of Alibaba's leadership succession planning.”

Notably, Zhang himself was once the CFO of Alibaba. He expressed confidence in Xu’s professional capabilities and leadership skills.

The CEO noted that Wu helped Alibaba achieve three public listings after taking over as the CFO. Two on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 and 2019 and one on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

“We will continue to benefit from her guidance and insights in her continued role as an Alibaba board director,” said Zhang.

At press time, Alibaba’s shares traded 6.45% lower at HKD 111.70 in Hong Kong.

See Also: How To Buy Alibaba (BABA) Stock

Why It Matters: The Chinese e-commerce conglomerate said it would form two new units to drive international digital commerce and China digital commerce, reported Reuters.

The international unit would reportedly encompass consumer-facing and wholesale businesses such as AliExpress, Alibaba.com, and Lazada and will be headed by Taobao President Jiang Fan. The domestic unit would be led by Trudy Dai — a founding member of Alibaba.

Alibaba released second-quarter numbers last month, with earnings per share amounting to $1.74, compared with an estimate of $1.93. Consumer sales were reported at $26.7 billion for the quarter, falling from $27.92 billion seen in the June quarter.

The Jack Ma-founded company expects FY 2022 revenue to grow by 20-23% below the 27.9% growth expected by the Street.

Price Action: On Friday, Alibaba shares fell 8.23% to $111.96 in the regular session and dropped another 0.32% in the after-hours trading.

See Also: It's Crunch Time: An Update On Alibaba's Freefall

Photo: Courtesy of The Community -- Pop Culture Geek via Wikimedia